White House Correspondents Insider

Behind the scenes of the most powerful city in the world — Washington, D.C. — and those who cover it.

Nationals Sure To Win World Series This Year Because of '86 Mets

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Much like the plot of Rocky Balboa, The Washington Nationals are supposedly going to take the 2013 World Series because they’re statistically on par with the 1986 New York Mets. In their upcoming baseball issue–complete with local covers–“Mr. October” Stephen Strasberg will be a key factor in bringing another title to the Nats sez Sports Illustrated.

The pullquote of the year from Tom Verducci:
“Manager Davey Johnson has managed this team before: the 1986 Mets. Like the ’86 Mets, the Nationals are coming off a 98-win season, are loaded with young pitching, star players and a deep bullpen and expect to win. Washington has no obvious flaw.”

Meanwhile in the “Who will have a better year” psyhic category the Los Angeles Angels’ Mike Trout edges out Bryce Harper 4:3. The Mets and The Nationals are natural enemies, of course: Washington and New York have spared together for years. Even this weekend for the Easter game the Nationals will have a rare outing against the Yankees at National Park. This sort of tea leaf reading may seem strange, but we’re a town that appreciates hardcore stat analyzation and going off gut choices. Honestly, without that love of bet hedging 1100 Wilson Boulevard would just be another Baja Fresh/Cosi hybrid and not Politico. And if this miracle season doesn’t occur, DCist notes we at least know who to blame at Sports Illustrated.

Biden Abroad Leaves White House Pool Wanting

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While most of Washington slept, Vice President Joe Biden was off in Rome amusing the White House Press Pool.

The first dispatches from Rome came in at 3:06 a.m. eastern time:

“Gorgeous Rome morning, a few stray clouds, no coat necessary despite a slight chill — after the rain of the past couple of days. Pool/staff drove to VP’s Rome digs. It’s the Villa Richardson — the official residence of the US Ambassador to the Holy See (a post that is currently vacant). Pool is having coffee in the basement kitchen.”

It only grew from there:

“Arrived St Peter’s 8:08 am local. Did not see VP but am told only he and delegation allowed to walk past uniformed Swiss guards through the basilica of St Peter. Staff/press escorted around.”

The mystery of where Veep Biden was would become an ongoing issue for the Pool:

“Are told VP Biden will have a front row seat in the official delegation section (right side of the altar when looking at the basilica). But have yet to spot him.”

“Press area is a Tower of Babel — Italian, Spanish, Portuguese and others your pooler cannot identify.”

Even during the service, the Pool had to merely assume Biden was in attendance:

“The VP is sitting on an aisle seat and his sister Valerie is sitting next to him, according to the VP’s office. We cannot spot him from our bird’s-eye perch.”

and finally:
“Took off about 1:40 pm Rome time. Landed Ramstein Air Base in Germany at 3:10 pm local. Refueling stop. It’s raining. No VP encounter on this short leg. Should note that VP ended up more in the middle of the delegations at the mass. Previous pool suggested he might end up at the front.”

Biden is on his way back to the United States and will next be speaking in New York at the Irish America Hall of Fame luncheon on Thursday. The Press Corps will undoubtedly have an easier time keeping track of him in the Big Apple.

Gavin Newsom's Citizenville in D.C. [PHOTOS]

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2/15/13 - Book Party for Gavin Newsom's "Citizenvillie"

California Lt. Governor Gavin Newsom felt right at home at Washington’s Jefferson Hotel on February 16th to discuss his new book, “Citizenville: How to Take the Town Square Digital and Reinvent Government.” While WHCInsider provided live coverage of the program C-SPAN’s Book TV covered all the action from the Gallatin Room for an upcoming segment (scheduled for next weekend or so). Newsom mingled among the select crowd of reporters and government officials keen to hear how Farmville can become legitimate models for politicos. Among the crowd were Newsom’s old friend Hilda Solis, the former Secretary of Labor, and former California Congresswoman Ellen Tauscher, who paid tribute to Newsom as a strong leader for California and in technology. The book party was co-hosted by Constance Milstein and JC de la Haye St. Hilarie, Tammy Haddad and Ellen Tauscher. Top Obamaites Evan Ryan and her husband Tony Blinken, Jeremy and Robyn Bash, Ambassador Elizabeth Bagley, Jane Oates, joined journalists Kate Boulduan Jim Fallows, who recently moved back to Washington, Jane Mayer, from the New Yorker,Michael Falcone from ABC News, David Chalian and Jonathan Martin from Politico, Betsy Fischer Martin of Meet the Press and Rob Saliterman from Google. Eve O’Toole, whom Newsom called his “best friend and trusted adviser” and her husband Peter O’Toole, joined Holly Page, Mandy Grunwald, Martha Slagle , Jonathan Capehart, Judy Kurtz, Heather Podesta, Melissa Moss, and “get excited” chairman Marc Adelman.

After Newsom signed copies of his new book and gave a few brief interviews, the crowd retreated for a closed door dinner and more than a few verses from some popular songs. While that remains a secret, check out some photos from the event to see what you missed when gaming change comes to Washington:

The Ticketing Mistakes and Quadrennial Loss of the 2013 Inauguration

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Chances are you don’t have a ticket to the 2013 Inaugural Ball. You can all thank technology.

As the Washington Post reports, “People who had signed up to attend the Inaugural Ball at the Washington Convention Center received e-mails Sunday from Ticketmaster that said tickets would go on sale Monday. It told recipients that they would receive a link sometime Monday with an exclusive link to buy a limited number of tickets for $60 each. But instead, e-mails went out hours later with a link to the Web site to buy them.”
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Ambassador Susan Rice Withdraws from Secretary of State Nomination

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From Rice’s desk to our eyes.


Susan Rice, ambassador to the United Nations, is out of the running for the coveted secretary of state seat. After weeks of harassment from congress

ABC News published the letter that Ambassador Rice sent to President Obama, which is avaliable here. She starts her letter off thanking the president.
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The Running Of The Who's Who for 2013

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The end of the year is for making lists and conjecture about who’ll be in charge come next term. Politico’s already started their weekly half-video/half column Behind the Curtain featuring Mike Allen and Jim Vandehei as they tackle the weeks that were–so far that means immigration and the rebranding of Marco Rubio and Paul Ryan.

Buzzfeed, however, seems to be focused entirely on 2013 with today’s list of the 23 People Who Will Be Running Washington Next Year. This service comes complete with headshots that tell us whether we’re looking at a daytime regular on MSNBC, Fox or CNN–or to provide photographic evidence of Paul Ryan’s Michael Steel, pictured above.
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The New York Times Names New Washington Bureau Chief

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David Leonhardt was named the new Washington Bureau chief for The New York Times.  He was appointed by Jill Abramson who calls him “one of our finest writers and most elegant thinkers.” Leonhardt recently won the Pulizter Prize for commentary and is also the paper’s Economic Scene columnist.

Check out the full memo by the New York Times here.

President Obama and Seth Meyers Score Plenty of Laughs and YouTube Views at #WHCD

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The day before Osama Bin Laden was killed the President entertained a crowd of high profile politicos, media personalities and hollywood celebs at the Washington Hilton throwing satirical punches at Donald Trump with video pieces of his birth certificate and his never seen before “actual birth.”  SNL’s Seth Meyers brought his whole family to the affair as well as his Weekend Update humor.

Check out the videos below:

Obama’s speech is now the most watched video on C-SPAN’s YouTube channel with over 6 million hits and counting.

Rhee: Election "Devastating for DC children"

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Education policy and political players came to the Newseum for the DC premiere of Washington’s own Oscar-winning filmmaker David Guggenheim’s new documentary “Waiting for Superman.” But it was DC Public Schools Chancellor Michelle Rhee who locals were talking about as they were exiting the Newseum auditorium.

Rhee, featured in the documentary and on the Newseum panel discussion last night, has made headlines for her radical education reforms in the District. When asked whether it was her fault Mayor Adrian Fenty, seeking re-election, lost the Democratic primary on Tuesday, she blasted the results as being “devastating to DC public school students.”

“Yesterday’s election results were devastating – devastating.  Not for me, I will be fine.  Not for Fenty, he will be fine too.  It was devastating for the children of Washington, DC,” said Rhee. Her comments drew applause by Education Secretary Arne Duncan, Guggenheim and the audience.

Rhee continued, “The biggest tragedy is the lesson we should take from this is to pull back. We cannot retreat now in anything….Now is the time to lean forward and be more aggressive and more adamant.”

Rhee was surrounded by fans who lined up for photos and hugs after the session.

New York magazine writer John Heilemann moderated the panel which also included Guggenheim; Randi Weingarten, President of the American Federation of Teachers; and Geoffrey Canada, the Harlem educator who is the bright star of the film.

The top dogs at Paramount including Brad Grey and Phillipe Dauman were on hand to introduce the film after a hilarious video intro by Stephen Colbert.  Attendees included David and Susan Axelrod, Bill and Elaine Bennett, Bill and Laura Burton, Julianna Smoot and Lon Johnson, George Stevens, Hilary Rosen, Mike Feldman, and Ebs Burnough.  Top news reporters and pundits in the crowd included Jake Tapper, Ed Henry, Michele Martin, Jamal Simmons, and Roland Martin.

“Waiting for Superman” will be in select theaters on September 24.